


Life Raft

by EzzyDean



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-15
Updated: 2014-02-15
Packaged: 2018-01-12 13:35:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1187202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EzzyDean/pseuds/EzzyDean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>No one really understood them.  But no one really needed to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Life Raft

It wasn’t something to be measured or calculated.  It was something you could only feel.  Trying to describe it only made it seem trivial, fleeting.  It lost it’s potency when it was put into words.  If you couldn’t feel it then you just didn’t understand.  

Which is why everyone thought they were so strange together.  But when Haru came home that night and found Rei asleep on the floor with an open book on his chest he couldn’t help but smile.   _This again?_   He wondered to himself as he carefully picked up the book.  It was another new cookbook.  Rei was a terrible cook but he was determined to make a meal that Haru would enjoy.  Haru would just as soon they cook together and enjoy it that way but Rei was stubborn.  He sat on the floor and watched the younger man resting.  There were bags under his eyes and Haru wondered why he hadn’t noticed Rei hadn’t been sleeping well.  Probably because Rei was up earlier than him anyway, always puttering around in the mornings and reading some book or magazine or news article.

He ran a warm bath in the tub and walked back to the living room.  Squatting next to Rei he gently shook him awake.  When those tired eyes locked onto his he felt a current run through him, making his skin prickle.  A moment of clarity so pure that his breath caught.

"Haru?"  Rei mumbled rubbing at his eyes under his glasses as the other helped him sit up.  "When did you get home?"

"Come on."  Haru held his hand out and pulled the other boy to his feet.  He led him to the bathroom without another word and gently pushed him inside.  "Take a bath and then go sleep in the bed like a normal person."  He left Rei standing there, still partially asleep, and fixed himself a snack.  Fingers still tingling he flipped through the cookbook, enjoying the sensation of the slick pages under his fingertips.  A loud thump came from the bathroom followed by a groan and he hurried to check on Rei.  He probably shouldn’t have left him alone in a warm bath when he was that tired.  But sometimes Rei overwhelmed his senses and he just needed a little space.  Sliding open the door he braced himself for chaos, laughing in relief when he realized what had happened.  Rei was leaning across the edge of the tub, arms dangling to the floor.  His bottle of shampoo was near the door and he had apparently hit the side of the tub in frustration when it slipped through his grasp.

"Yeah.  Laugh at the idiot who can’t even wash his own hair.  Haha."  Rei sat back up in the tub, shooting Haru an irritated glance, and sighed.  Bending down to pick up the shampoo bottle Haru was confused.  Was Rei actually sulking about something?

"What’s wrong?"  Haru set the bottle on the edge of the tub and looked over at Rei.  "Is the bath not comfortable?"  Rei closed his eyes and leaned back in the tub, letting the still warm water wash over him.

"No it’s comfortable enough.  You know sometimes I almost think I can understand why you spend so much time in the water."  Haru tilted his head slightly and crouched next to the tub.  Listening to Rei talk was something he enjoyed.  His voice would surround Haru like water and he would let himself drift on the waves of sound.  Lifting his hand out of the tub, watching the water drip off his fingertips, Rei sighed again, clenching his fist.  "But then it slips through my grasp and I’m left sitting here confused.  Like when a word is on the tip of your tongue and then it’s gone.  Just leaving you with a bitter taste of the memory of almost succeeding."  Closing his eyes again, suddenly tired of looking at the water, Rei leaned his head against the wall.  Haru wondered what he was thinking.  Probably worrying about how everyone thought they were so strange together.  Nothing in common, was what someone had said just the other day.  Why bother, what can you even talk about, was another one.  Slipping off his clothes Haru stepped into the tub and positioned himself in front of Rei, not even listening to his surprised protests that the tub was really too small for both of them to be in it.

The water was still warm enough to be comfortable and Haru leaned against Rei’s chest, propping his feet on the edge of the tub.  The water was charged when Rei reluctantly dropped one of his hands into the tub and rested it on Haru’s stomach, and Haru’s skin prickled at the sensations.

"Stop thinking about it so much.  Just get back to feeling it."  Rei was stubborn, but so was Haru.  Every time Haru started to get Rei to let go of that calculating, rational side of his Rei would surge back against him.  Clutching at his formulas and figures like a life raft.  So Haru would gently pry his fingers off one by one, marveling at the strength in them, and tug him into the water.  He surrounded himself in the feeling of being next to Rei and knew that someday Rei would be able to surround himself with being next to him.  He wanted to be able to show Rei that clarity, that moment of purity, but Rei had to be ready to sink into the water beside him willingly.  He had to be willing to accept drowning in the sea that was Haru, the way Haru already felt himself drowning in Rei.


End file.
